A tourist takes a selfie. File / AFP

A Saudi tourist drowned after he slipped and fell into the River Nile while apparently attempting to take a selfie, police said.

"The Saudi national was on a tour on Uganda. He drowned as he was taking a selfie on the River Nile and the water swept him away," Uganda police spokeswoman Hellen Butoto said. The body has been recovered by the police marine unit and taken for post-mortem."

The tourist was with a group of friends visiting Kalagala Falls in central Uganda, a popular spot whose raging rapids are popular among kayakers, when the accident happened on Saturday.

"The tourist slipped because the surface is wet and he had leaned backwards to take a selfie of fast-running water in the background," said Butoto.

She said his body was recovered some 10 kilometres away on Wednesday.

A study by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 2018 found there had been 259 selfie deaths around the world over the previous six years.

The highest toll was in India, followed by Russia, United States and Pakistan.

Agence France-Presse